Ba'el walked behind Saavik until they left the bridge, then she stepped forward to be at her right side.
"The Tal'Shiar ships are heading directly towards the Dominion border," she informed her. "They obviously aren't joining Ajeya's fleet."
"No, they are not," was all Saavik replied.
The two officers entered the turbolift and ordered it to take them to the next level.
Ba'el was frowning, worry clearly written in her face, "Do you have an idea of why?"
"Do you?" the Vulcan asked back, arching her eyebrow.
"Actually, yes," the lieutenant halted, and Saavik prompted for her to go on, "maybe it's a stupid idea."
"Ba'el," Saavik spurred her again; even if she talked freely when they were off duty and addressed personal matters, the young officer still hesitated sometimes when they were working. However, she should have learnt years ago that there was no reason to not speak her mind in front of her.
Ba'el still took some seconds to reply, collecting her thoughts; she was really afraid they would make no sense and she did not want to burden Saavik with her crazy theories. Saavik was in a bad mood; she had never seen the older woman so troubled before, not even when she had first met her. Saavik had come to the Academy to see her, acompanied by Spock, when it had barely been a month since the end of her wrongfully imprisonment in that terrible Klingon prison camp. She was as composed as any Vulcan would but even that first time she had been able to read her and see the strain she was still under.
"My theory:" she finally explained. "The Tal'Shiar used Jem'Hadar prisoners for illegal research. Their project was apparently shut down and nobody knows about them. Now two Tal'Shiar ships are heading towards Dominion territory."
"Yes," Saavik nodded.
Just then the turbolift stopped and they stepped out.
"Maybe the Jem'Hadar escaped, stole those ships and now are returning to their homeland. Maybe they were the ones who killed the Cardassian scientists and that's the reason why everything was paralyzed."
"You forget Ajeya and other Romulan agents were the ones who made contact with Deep Space Nine."
"No, I don't," Ba'el stopped and turned to look intensely at Saavik. "Maybe they are the Jem'Hadar's prisoners now, forced to do that."
"Or maybe the reason why these vessels are going into Dominion territory is that their project was finished and now they want to test their results," Saavik interjected.
"Well, yes, that's another possibility."
Saavik was walking forward again and already reaching her assigned quarters.
"But what about Ajeya?" Ba'el inquired, as they both halted again at the door. "Garak said she opposed them."
"Yes, he said that," Saavik's voice dropped flat. "That does not mean it is the truth."
Ba'el frowned in confusion, then she remembered quickly all she had learned about Ajeya's turbulent past with Saavik. Obviously, the Vulcan admiral had sound reason to distrust her Romulan counterpart.
"Right," she simply agreed. "Do you want me to plan courses of action for the different scenarios?"
"Yes, we will discuss them later, before meeting Raghnill again." Then she paused. "I am going to try to reach Spock," she confided.
"Good," and inwardly Ba'el spoke softer than intended, as the perspective of the intimate talk spurred her unrequited feelings. Spock and Saavik really loved each other, as her parents did.
Spock had welcomed Ba'el into his house when she came to Vulcan those few years ago looking to meet Saavik only to find out that she was missing. He had spoken of her for hours, for days, with a longing that his Vulcan disciplines could not completely hide. And when the couple had finally come together that day at the Academy for the first time, their love was undeniable.
She wished Worf looked at her the way Spock looked at Saavik, that he missed her with the same intensity she fell for him. But Worf had kissed her good-bye without really feeling it that time back at home and if his heart ached, as she was sure it ached, it was because of his lost wife, the one he had truly loved: Jadzia Dax.
As Saavik entered the code and started to go into the room, Ba'el struggled not to sigh.
"See you later then, Saavik" she said, "send greetings to Spock on my behalf."
"Of course, Ba'el."